Prime's new trailer is essentially a heavily armed version of the original, with two double-barreled heavy laser cannons mounted on two arms with visible fists. The rear has a fold-down ramp to allow the storage of a smaller transformer, or perhaps spare accessories. The trailer can be transformed into a Powermaster battlestation that can allow other Powermaster engine figures to man the heavy laser cannons.
Besides finding Megatron for the Transformers Movieverse, Mr. Sheppard was known for his many appearances across the Star Trek series and films. Additionally, he was well-known for his work as Blank Reg in the Babylon 5 series, and many other appearances in series like Dr. Who and more over his long-time career. You can read the full article about him via TV Guide.com.
A K-Mart exclusive set released on "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving, the most hellishly busy shopping day of the year), this set consists of Super Base Optimus Prime, Jetfire, their respective partner Mini-Cons Sparkplug and Comettor, the Adventure Mini-Con Team, and oddly enough, Longarm. Optimus Prime's red plastics and paint were replaced with gold, the only changes made to anyone in the set. It is this set from which the name of Optimus Prime's combined mode with Jetfire, Jet Prime, comes.
The brand was yet to get its biggest revitalization, though. In 2007, Paramount Pictures released a high-budget live-action movie. Though many long-time fans resented the changes in style and story that the movie brought forth, it performed incredibly well at the box office and launched the brand into the public eye all over the world. Now, everyone recognized the concept of alien robots disguised as cars, and everyone associated the concept with the name: Transformers.
Following our last article on in hand images of Studio Series 38 Voyager Class Optimus Prime (from the Bumblebee film), TonTon Reviews (who put up the in hand images), has come through on what they said and posted their review! This review allows us to get the best look at the toy yet, as well as its surprisingly complex transformation. We see the ion blaster included stores between his legs in truck mode to fill in the gap and hold it togethyer. The backpack in robot mode also has 5mm - Read More
In "Decepticon Air", Optimus receives a secret distress call from the Elite Guard ship that is carrying Decepticon prisoners. During the flight, the ship enters an electrical storm, which revives an inactive Swindle and he frees other prisoners to take over the ship. Transwarping to the ship via Swindle's personal transport field, Optimus joins forces with the Elite Guard, rounding up most of the Decepticons in the end.
His trailer opens up into his Combat Deck, which features a missile-armed repair drone pod (with seating for one) mounted upon a boom lift arm. Situated in the base of this boom is a spring-loaded launcher that can be used to launch Roller out of the Combat Deck. Roller himself has seating for 4 passengers, and can be equipped to carry Optimus Prime's rifle or a fuel pump. The interior space of the trailer allows storage room for one Autobot car.
Apparently, early plans for the shield were to have it colored gold and silver, but it was later changed to gray and red. When a hand-painted prototype of the toy was first displayed at the 2013 New York Comic Con, the shield was colored yellow and silver; in addition, the original versions of the official Hasbro stock photos also depict the gold color, but the versions featured on the back of the toy's packaging were edited so they would accurately depict the final toy's colors for the shield. Meanwhile, the versions of the stock photos provided to websites and online retailers depict the shield in its final colors for the robot mode, whereas the vehicle mode photo is the unedited version featuring the shield's original colors. Furthermore, UK-based retailer Argos also featured unedited versions of the stock photos for both modes in one of its catalogs, causing some confusion among fans.[5] Sometimes, the spring loaded "Automorph" feature in his head is too strong and causes the head to fly off...
Optimus Prime is primarily voiced by Peter Cullen in most of his incarnations, who voiced him in the original series. Following the production of the 2007 film, Cullen reprised his role for the sequels and supporting media and would even voice Optimus in later series such as Transformers: Prime. Optimus has been voiced by a number of other voice actors in other series such as Neil Kaplan, Garry Chalk, and David Kaye in the series Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Unicron Trilogy, and Transformers Animated, respectively.
This gold-chrome and clear-plastic redeco of the Leader-class Optimus Prime figure was first offered as a prize in a mail-in contest held through TV Magazine alongside a silver chrome version of the same toy (see below). Both figures were later made available again as prizes in a second contest in the September 2005 issue of TV Magazine, together with "Galaxy Convoy Custom Color Version" (again, see below).
Takara's release of Optimus Prime the following year made a few changes, noticeably replacing the gold paint and plastic of the Hasbro toy with bright yellow and much brighter gold. The deco has been tweaked to be a bit closer to the original prototype glimpsed in early catalogs, with yellow added back to cab Prime's feet and the cab grill painted silver, and the Super Mode's waist getting much more paint. This version of the figure was never burdened with the mobility-inhibiting shoulder tabs. Completing the Super Mode combination triggered a new clip of Prime shouting "Convoy, ready for battle!" in Japanese instead of generic mechanical sounds. Late in the run, JUSCO stores offered this toy with blind-packed "Space Galaxy" versions of the individual Destruction Mini-Con Team members, one toy per box.

Although MechTech Optimus Prime's deco is similar to the first Deluxe Class figure, some of his parts (robot shoulder flaps, chest piece/truck front) were recast in blue plastic (with the chest being painted red), and his paint applications on the pelvis, headlights & thighs are omitted. His front truck hood/backpack's deco is altered: the truck steps and the fenders were painted blue, and the gold sprays on the flame tampographs are removed, while he features additional flame tampos on both sides of his front hood, and an Autobot Insignia on his left robot shoulder. He still retains the light-piping gimmick, but cast in clear plastic, with the eyeballs being (halfheartedly) painted with clear blue. His MechTech weapon is cast in transparent orange plastic, with the exception of the scope/lever and the gun barrel, which remained opaque silver plastic due to being cast with unpaintable plastic. He also features Cyberglyphics on the left side of his vehicle mode front hood.

In 2002, 3H secured the official Transformers convention license as well as licenses to produce comic books and start a fan club. Optimus Prime appeared in Transformers Collectors Club comics, a comic released by 3H enterprises. In the comic, he is the same Optimus Prime from the Robots in Disguise continuity, but is taken to the Transformers: Universe reality.
The first toy in TakaraTomy's United toyline is a redeco of the War for Cybertron Deluxe Class Optimus Prime, transforming into a Cybertronic "armored truck". As has been TakaraTomy's wont of late, he now sports a metallic red paint job, with brighter pink paint applications and cooler grey parts, and features several additional paint details to those present on the Hasbro figure in the form of black chest windows and pink lines on his face mask. His rifle transforms as well, folding and plugging into the roof of the vehicle mode. The rifle can also peg into his forearms, and, in its compact configuration, can attach to his shoulders via peg holes on the backs of his front tires or stored behind his back in robot mode.
A mold for a standard LEGO piece costs anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000; over its lifetime, it will spit out some sixty million bricks. The cost of making the mold, spread out over all those bricks, is essentially zero. But when designers concoct a specialized piece and LEGO manufactures just fifty thousand of them, the molding cost rises to as high as $1 per piece. Including just a few of these specialized pieces, as LEGO did with unrelenting frequency during the Plougmann era, can potentially kill a LEGO set’s profit potential.
As battles between numerous different Primes and Megatrons erupted quite literally all across time and space, another member of the Convoy Aggregate was later seen battling Starscream, who had been empowered by Megatron to serve as leader of his Questors. This Prime was so surprised by Starscream's uncharacteristic sports car alternate mode that he left himself open for a blast from Starscream's Retroactive Nullifer cannon, which erased him from the timestream. As he faded out of existence, Prime responded to Starscream's taunts about the death of the Alternity by telling him that they were already well aware of their prophesied end and were well prepared. Foreshadows
In one possible sequence of events, Powerglide was captured and reprogrammed by the Decepticons, leading their army to Autobot headquarters. Taken by surprised, the Autobots were felled one by one until only Optimus remained. As Megatron gloated that he would not kill Optimus, only alter him so as to make him the bane of humanity, Optimus activated the Ark’s self-destruct sequence, taking all of the Decepticons with him in a fiery explosion.

In Titan Magazines' UK Transformers magazine, a comic strip on Optimus Prime, written by Simon Furman, would reveal where he was during the events of Movie Prequel #1. As he carries out his fateful plan to send the Allspark into space, the Autobot base is attacked by one of Megatron's drones with specific orders to kill him. As it locates the Allspark, Prime does the only thing he could think of to prevent it from transmitting its location to Megatron. He transforms into protoform mode and physically rams through it. Recovering in time to see the Allspark blast off, Prime is granted a vision of their war on Earth.

When we are young, we do not know the value of money let alone the toys we play with. Our parents work tirelessly to buy us the newest, most popular toys and we never realize the effort that went into earning that money. Eventually we get our own jobs and have our own kids. The prices of the toys we had as kids comes as a shock. $150 for a toy? $200 for a toy? These prices are outrageous. It is supposed to be a kid’s toy right? Our eyes may be drawn to the large sets but that doesn’t mean that reasonably priced sets are not nearby. In addition, as I stated before, LEGO has started to market some of their sets to an older audience. That $400 Super Star Destroyer is not for your kid; it is for you. This market didn’t exist 20 years ago.

The actual events of the Autobots and Decepticon coming to Earth were never printed by Dreamwave comics, but flashbacks of the events are printed later. These flashbacks suggest that the Autobots allied with humankind and defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed Ark II, but the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the transformers. A terrorist organization, run by the enigmatic Lazarus, was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth while the U.S. military was occupied with locating Prime's body. Before his departure, Prime had entrusted a small portion of the Matrix to Spike Witwicky, who was forced by the product chief, General Hallo, to use it to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in San Francisco.
In Transformers: Autobots, Optimus Prime meets up with the other Autobots to give further commands to his troops. Create-A-Bot, the new rookie, is eager to help in the cause, but Optimus tells him to sit back while the other Autobots fight the Decepticons. Create-A-Bot finally defies orders and completes a mission against Optimus's council. After nearly getting himself and the other Autobots killed, Create-A-Bot apologizes to Optimus personally. Taking pity on the newcomer, Optimus lets him off with a stern warning, and they move out together to face Megatron, who has absorbed the power of the Allspark. Optimus fights Megatron, but Megatron gains the upper-hand. Optimus is on the verge of defeat when Create-A-Bot takes the Allspark and drives to Megatron's chest, weakening Megatron but mortally wounding himself in the process. Optimus fights Megatron again, defeating him. As Megatron is on the ground, he tells Optimus that if he kills him, the Allspark will be destroyed and Cybertron will never be restored. Optimus says to Megatron that he will do what he must do, then he raises his sword and kills Megatron, destroying the Allspark in the process. Create-A-Bot also dies, but not before telling Optimus his final request to make Earth the new home of the Autobots and to protect the humans. The game ends with Optimus sending a message to all surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars.

This figure suffers from a design flaw, in that his knee joint pegs are slightly too big for their sockets, and that the resulting connection is so tight that it makes the sockets form stress marks and eventually crack, or even cracking during assembly. The problem can be remedied by simply sanding down the pegs prior to sliding the legs onto the peg.

Knight Armor Turbo Changer Optimus Prime is a Voyager-sized figure that transforms from truck to robot in just 2-steps: pulling his whole truck kibble to the front then fold down to complete the robot mode, although converting him back requires some few steps. His only articulation is the elbows, and he features 5mm compatible hands. He also features a "Knight Armor" gimmick, which consists of his mask popping out to his head with the press of the button on his chest. Take note that you need to flip back the mask manually before you turn him back into Truck Mode.
Part of the new Generations Cyber Battalion series, Optimus Prime is a new mold which stands 7 inches tall, and transforms from a truck (which is based on the Generations Thrilling 30 Legends Class Optimus Prime figure) into a robot in just 7 simple steps. The figure's transformation engineering had taken cues from the Reveal the Shield Legends Class Optimus Prime figure, while it still retains the same ol' articulation.
In a completely different scenario, Optimus agreed to Prowl’s plan to go on the offensive and try and discover the full extent of the Decepticons’ plans. Optimus nominated Prowl, Bumblebee and Mirage to go along with him on the mission. The group refuelled with the gas that Sparkplug brought back from the Autobots’ secret storage area, and took off. The group soon happened upon the Decepticons’ lab in the middle of a barren, polluted wasteland.
The character of Optimus Prime first appears in Transformers (film) as the leader of the Autobots in the search for the Allspark. After arriving and scanning a Peterbilt truck, Optimus greeted Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes, introducing his men and explaining why they had come to Earth. They escorted the humans back to Sam's house to retrieve the pair of glasses that would lead them the Allspark. When Sam and Mikaela were captured by a Sector 7 agent named Simmons, Optimus intercepted their car and surrounded the Sector 7 agents, curious that Simmons was not afraid or surprised by their appearance. When backup arrived, Optimus took the teens on his back and ran, taking cover under a bridge. Though Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee were captured, Optimus retrieved the glasses and prepared to lead his other men to get the Allspark, pointing out that, if it came to it, he would sacrifice himself by shoving the cube into his chest to prevent he Decepticons from getting control of the Allspark. When they discovered Bumblebee and the humans were free and being escorted by the military with the Allspark, Optimus joined their convoy. Along the way they, are attacked by Bonecrusher. Optimus engages him, killing him by using his Energon blade. Arriving in the city, he briefly confronted Megatron, but was left stunned. When he recovered, he rescued Sam as he was falling from a building and warned him that if he could not defeat Megatron before going into battle, he needed to place the Allspark in his chest. Optimus is nearly defeated by Megatron before Sam kills the Decepticon by ramming the Allspark into his chest. Optimus is grateful to Sam for saving him, and he and the other surviving Autobots decide to remain on Earth since Cybertron cannot be restored without the cube. The film ends with Optimus sending out a deep-space signal, inviting other Autobots to join them on Earth.

A retool of Lockdown with a new head. He is a simplified toy that can auto-transforms from an unlicensed approximation of a Lamborghini Aventador rather than a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 into a Voyager-sized robot by pulling out the arms first, and then flip the figure over itself. He features articulation on his arms, and features 5mm compatible hands.

Takara's iteration of Combiner Wars Optimus Maximus is sold in a gift set including all five Autobots (minus the Rodimus mold). This version of Convoy has numerous changes in deco to better match his look in the Generation 1 cartoon. Like Unite Warriors Menasor, the set also features some minor improvements to the original sculpts, such as improved hip-ratchets for Convoy for increased stability. He also had the slightly modified pegs that Legends Class Rodimus (or Blackjack, Runabout, and Runamuck) can securely attach to, which was previously used for Battle Core Optimus Prime. While he features foil insignia stickers on his robot mode shoulders, he also features tampographed Autobot symbols on his side truck panels.

This figure is an exclusive to San Diego Comic-Con 2011. The toy comes in a packaging shaped like the Matrix of Leadership, which one could wear around their neck, preferably at the convention itself, so passers-by can exclaim "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?" and then try to get one themselves. The Matrix itself comes packaged in a box that is designed to look like Optimus Prime's chest, and opens accordingly. The chest window doors are sealed with a round magnet.
He does not come with his Mini-Con partner Over-Run in this release; instead, Optimus Prime and his wave-mate Demolishor debuted a new brand of Cyber Key: retooled from the standard Cybertron style key, this version lacked a sculpted insignia, so that any symbol could be tampographed on to it, and featured a Mini-Con-style Powerlinx socket on the back, allowing it to operate the figure's formerly-Mini-Con-activated "punching" feature without the figure itself having to be retooled.
"But," we wondered, "How do you listen to music if you're constantly throwing this little robot?" The answer is wireless Bluetooth headphones. Here's a thought: When the music-listening technology that comes with today's yo-yos is cooler and more advanced than the music-listening technology that came with portable CD players in our day, the youth of today officially rescinds its right to ever complain about anything. Ever.
For reasons unknown, his ion blaster was sculpted with a large, rectangular handle, requiring accommodating fists. In order to make use of the other weapons in the line (like his own rocket launcher and the solitarium weapons), he comes with an extra pair of replacement fists with smaller, circular peg-holes. This replacement-fist method is also used to plug in his clear-plastic energy axe.
The "Breakout Battle" set includes another take on a screen-accurate "Scrapyard Optimus Prime", featuring a brown paint wash on tan plastic. The set was a shared exclusive between Toys "R" Us, online retailers such as Big Bad Toy Store, and Myer in Australia. The set was released in Australia, Singapore, and Canada but never actually made it to retail in the U.S. The set also includes Rollbar and a Vehicon.
In time-honored tradition, Prime's instructions depict the toy with an alternate "pretooled" head – in this case, a version with the faceplate deployed, used on the Platinum Edition and "Rusty" releases of the figure (see below). Additionally, his packaging stock photography depicts him with extra white/silver paint details, especially on his chest and wheel rims, as well as having gray upper arms with red details, among other differences.
With the data from the piece price evaluations I was able to also evaluate the average size of LEGO sets each year. As you can see on the chart below, the average size of sets released each year stayed somewhat constant from 1980-1990 until around 2000 which set sizes started to increase. The average set size seems to have peaked in 2008 (which saw the release of the Taj Mahal), but since then it hasn’t fallen to its pre-2000 levels. It seems to have found a new normal around 300 pieces.
One more thought: LEGO is a Danish company. The fluctuations in the price of LEGO such as the big bump around 1985-7 in Figures 1 and 2 could be because of a change in exchange rates. The conversion rate between the Danish Kronor and the US$ went from over 10 in 83 and 84 to less than 7 in 86 and 87. LEGO might have been slow to respond to changes in exchange rates, leading to the temporary bump. If you’d like to share data we can redo your graphs in DKK.

In Axiom Nexus, General Optimus Prime found himself inducted into the Convoy, a group of Optimus Primes and their kin dedicated to safeguarding the multiverse. While the other Convoy members tended to stay in the upper reaches of Axiom Nexus, the General was able to use his unusual appearance for an Optimus Prime to venture in the Offworlder zones without suspicion, a great help to Offworlder Zone Security Administration Commander Cheetor. The General was also assisted in his new mission by his longtime scout, Sergeant Hound. General Optimus Prime profile card Sgt. Hound profile card

Bumblebee, being the popular character he is, was one of the first five characters inducted into the Hall in 2010, during a ceremony at BotCon; the convention for all things Transformers. He was joined, not surprisingly, by other super-popular transformers: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, and the Dinobots. Humans enshrined in the Transformers Hall of Fame over the last few years include everyone from director Michael Bay to Peter Cullen (the iconic voice of Optimus).

In our list of things you didn’t know about Optimus Prime, we learned that the live action version of Optimus was based on actor Liam Neeson. It turns out Michael Bay likes to base his Transformers on real actors, because it’s been revealed that Bumblebee’s character movements are based on Michael J. Fox-- but not just regular old Michael J. Fox; we’re specifically talking about Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies.

Softimus Prime is, as his name suggests, a plush G1 Optimus Prime toy. Obviously, he has no problems with articulation and passes the drop test with flying colors. His main draw is the ability to "transform" into his Freightliner FL86 vehicle mode by turning the plush toy inside out, his transformation roughly similar to the Powermaster cab Prime's. He is love, in bed.
In one Universe, Optimus led his Autobots against Megatron's Decepticons until the Cybertronian civil war led to the creation of the monstrous combiner Thunder Mayhem. Thunder Mayhem turned on his masters, ultimately leading to him rampaging across Cybertron. History The Decepticon Toxitron was made to resemble Optimus Prime as a blow to Autobot morale and also sported a cybermetric signature that matched Prime's. The Toxic Transformer
The paint deco is... unfocused, to say the least. In vehicle mode, the grill, headlights, and bumpers (and thus his feet) are painted silver, yet the red in the small Autobot insignia has been removed. There is silver paint on the fuel tanks (toy battery cover), but not on the other tool boxes and equipment in the same location. There is also silver paint on all 6 wheel rims, the air cleaners, and the windscreen visor. In robot mode, the silver paint is mainly located on his thighs and crotch, though in order to save on costs, the dark blue and gold paint on his thighs and knee joints have been sacrificed.

Optimus became the leader of the Autobots for a time, then disappeared, leaving his people to be ruled tyrannically by Megatron.Targetmasters Megatron never stopped seeking out his old foe, rewarding any of his troops that provided him with information that could lead to Optimus's whereabouts. The Golden Boys As for the Autobots, they were uncertain exactly as to why Optimus had disappeared; some believed Optimus had simply abandoned his troops, while other believed he was fulfilling some greater purpose and would return to them in their hour of need. Ultimately, it was Snake-Eyes and Duke who found the Autobot leader, lost in the void between dimensions. Form Follows Function There, the three of them became ensnared by the Quintessons. They escaped the extra-dimensional entities' mind-probe and made their way back to normal space. En route, Optimus learned from Duke that Bumblebee had traveled to Earth and met his demise there. His human companions went off to help their friends on Cybertron, while Optimus headed for T.H.E. P.I.T. on Earth, eviscerating numerous Coltonbolt satellites as he entered the atmosphere. Everybody Hates Metroplex

G1 Convoy comes with two sets of fists, each pair featuring differently-shaped fist holes: one pair with square holes to hold the figure's "Convoy Gun" (as his ion blaster is called), and the other with round 3mm-compatible holes to hold the spring-loaded translucent blue missile launcher (a generic accessory also available with Robotmasters Beast Megatron and Beast Convoy). The fists are swapped out by simply popping them out of the wrist-hinge that holds them in place; the figure also includes an energon-axe that can be inserted into the wrist instead of a fist.

In 2003, Transformers: Armada launched a pivotal new era in the toy line. After several lines of toys produced by one company or the other, Hasbro and Takara united to produce what was purported to be a single, identical line of Transformers for release worldwide. In tandem with this new endeavor, Armada signaled a new continuity in its accompanying animated series and a new focus in both the show and the toys on Mini-Cons, a new faction of Transformers. The Mini-Cons were much smaller robots (not much larger than humans) who were neutral in the Autobot/Decepticon fight, but due to their incredible power and abilities, were sought by both factions.
This Collector's Edition Japanese e-HOBBY exclusive was a redeco of Targetmaster Kup, released in conjunction with the 2006 reissue of Kup and designed to represent the character Orion Pax from the Generation 1 television series episode "War Dawn". Orion transforms into a Cybertronic pickup truck and came with both a gun and Barrelroller, a redeco of Recoil. He has full shoulder rotation, though the way his elbows are set up means he cannot make full use of their joints. His legs feature no articulation whatsoever.
The figure also features a hollow trailer (which also serves as his legs), fit for the Warrior Class-sized toys. The trailer can also be converted into a battle station. Because of the toy's design & transformation, he is kinda show-accurate. Optimus also features 5mm-compatible ports on his trailer, arms, shoulders, legs, knees, waist armor, and the pop-out Decepticon Hunters. He also includes many weapons, including his axe with a short handle. The included weapons can also be combined with the Decepticon Hunters into a dual-bladed weapon. All of his included weapons can be wield by any Warrior Class figures, although the accessories are associated with Bumblebee, Grimlock, Sideswipe, Strongarm, Jazz, & Drift.
Having been removed from toy store shelves after 1985, Optimus Prime was made available as a mail-away toy in the "Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction" offer in the US in 1986 to coincide with the Transformers movie premiering that year. He cost $21.50 and 5 Robot Points. He was also offered in 'The Autobots Have A Special Mission For...' mail-away pamphlet and came with a special "Movie Edition Certificate" and a round sticker that read " Movie . Edition . Transformer" with the Autobot symbol in the middle. (This item is considered rare.)